http://allafrica.com/stories/200901080045.html

Uganda: Soroti Farmers Mint Money From Citrus Sales

Ronald Kalyango
7 January 2009

Kampala — TITO Okello, a 26-year-old, has a three-acre farm overlooking Soroti Municipality. The scene outside his front window may be rural, but his citrus production is all business.

"I was a shamba boy at my uncle's farm, but decided to quit after gaining enough experience to become a serious citrus farmer," he says. He supplies 10% of his fruits to Teso Tropical Fruit Growers Association (TTFGA), an umbrella organisation that was formed in 2003 to help in the marketing of citrus fruits in Teso.

Okello is self-taught and a quick learner. His grafted citrus plants are more robust and mature faster than the common local variety. His home is very clean. During our visit, we found his employees in the gardens opening up more land for citrus production and fish farming.

The grafted mangoes mature quickly, Okello says, but only for the first two years. After that, the rate at which the fruits grow is something to fancy about.

Okello and his wife have dedicated their entire time to manage their business that continues to grow and profit from several activities that they have practiced for the past three years. Citrus production has built them respect.

With hard labour and considerable skill, they oversee the entire process that involves grafting, planting, harvesting, collecting, grading and of course the selling of top quality oranges destined for markets both within and beyond the district. It is not surprising that, Okello has decided to stick to citrus production which is providing him with very high returns while other crops like bananas, passion fruits and coffee continue to be attacked by pests and diseases.

By the time of our visit to Okello's farm in Omagoro I village, Asuret sub-county, it was grading day. Okello and his workers were packing oranges in the sacks under the orange trees which serve as a packing area.

He belongs to a group of 20 members. He started with grafting of seedlings and in his first year, sold 50,000 at a cost of sh2,000 each. This year he has about 300,000 seedlings which he intends to sell at sh2,000 each. In 2004, he had about 50 citrus trees and was able to harvest 20 bags, and in 2005 the number of harvested bags increased to 30 in 2005.

Since then he has been expanding his cultivated area and today he has about 378 mature and fruiting trees. Last year, he harvested 120 bags of oranges and selling each at sh30,000 yielding him sh3.6m. This year he intends to harvest about 200 bags and selling each at sh30,000 where he expects to earn about sh6m.

CHALLENGES:

Though Okello said he earns sh30,000 per bag, he said the amount was still too little. "If we could be offered sh50,000, I think more farmers would embrace the enterprise," he said.

However, Herbert Okurut-Akol, the principal research officer, Nabwin research station, Soroti, said as a result some farmers were considering cutting down the citrus fruits and then turn to other enterprises.

"We had done our role of grafting new varieties but the failure to have ready market for the fruiting trees, is posing a great challenge to our activities," said Okurut-Akol.

Another farmer, Winnie Asege of Arapai sub county said she has about 300 fruiting trees but most of the fruits were falling off the trees due to lack of a ready market. "With all the suffering we go through, traders don't feel ashamed to come and dictate the prices for our oranges," she said. Asege, a resident of Amototo village, said when the market is identified, she had plans of opening up more land for citrus production. "I am planning to plant more 200 citrus, only if there is ready market," she explained.

She, however, said, after realising the hurdles she goes through to market her produce, she decided to join TTFGA. It has since its formation, made several market contacts and there are initiatives for small scale local processing facilities to be established in the region. The association has since last year sold oranges to traders from Rwanda and in some supermarkets in Kampala.

Gaudesius Opio, the association's chairperson, said the registered number of farmers had increased from 25 in 2003 to 250 in 2008. The number of fruiting trees has also increased from 200,000 to over one million in 2008.

The Soroti District NAADS coordinator, Charles Aben said farmers had about two million grafted seedlings and selling each at sh2, 000, they were estimating to earn close to sh4bn. Mature tree yields close to 300 kilogrammes of fruits and the cost ranges from sh10,000 to 30,000 per bag. This means that such a farmer is capable of earning close to sh10m a year.

GROWTH PLANS:

The NAADS Agribusiness manager, David Wakikona, said the NAADS secretariat was looking at ways of setting up storage facilities in Soroti. "We are in talks with some Indian investors; we want them to set up a storage facility in the area before the processing plant is established in the area," said Wakikono. He, however, said that the secretariat was still optimistic of the potential markets both within and outside the region like in schools and urban centres. Aben said they expected the number of planted fruit trees to double to more than two million and in the next five years, Teso region would have about 10 million fruit trees.

"NAADS has trained more farmers on how to graft citrus fruits and the majority have opened up more land for citrus production, if the market is available, more farmers are likely to join the industry," said Aben.

Opio, however, said with increased production, the middlemen were busy perfecting the art of cheating their farmers. "Though they are cheating our farmers, they are currently the best exit for the fruits," he said.

He said buying of the oranges was by bags not by weight and in some areas they tended to buy the fruits while still on the trees. Opio said they had also contacted Britannia Industries Ltd.

Experts from Britania have tested Valencia and Hamlin and local types which they think will be good for juice processing, though scientists in Soroti recommend sweet Mediterranean.

Most farmers produce Valencia, Washington Naval, Hamlin and local varieties. Despite all the challenges, adoption rates were high, ranging from 300 to 500 trees per household. Sources of planting materials are the National Semi Arid Research Institute, individual farmers under NAADS, community nurseries and NGOs.